8 Tips for Designing a Successful Loyalty Program

Loyalty programs are seeing a resurgence, particularly in the digital realm, and may be an important strategic decision for your brand.

We recently developed an app for Bramalea City Centre that includes their robust loyalty program, the FashioniCITY Rewards Club. The program rewards shoppers on multiple levels, automates shopper check-ins, facilitates way-finding and triggers proximity notifications using Bluetooth beacons. Members can even access and redeem exclusive rewards right from their smartphone!

Here are the 8 things to consider when designing, managing and evolving a robust B2C loyalty program:

1

Instant Gratification

Give members the opportunity to benefit from your program immediately. Maybe it’s a prize for signing up or an exclusive service available to all members, but either way, offer something right out of the gate to solidify the relationship!

2

Achievable Milestones

A tiered system allows you to offer substantial rewards to your most loyal customers, so that exceptional participation is rewarding.

3

Bespoke Rewards

The age of blanket discounts has come and gone. You’ve got to be imaginative to incentivize today’s members. Test a few rewards if possible to find out what your members really want, or better yet, segment rewards to those more likely to enjoy them!

4

Entertainment

People find excitement in collecting points with each interaction, leading them on their own unique journey to tangible rewards. Gamification can be implemented in a number of ways – in the BCC App, we developed virtual “gems”, a sparkling way for members to move up that tiered point system we talked about!

5

Rewards

It’s important to find ways to reward customers for their participation, not just their purchases. This is a great place to integrate your loyalty program into other areas of your marketing strategy, as every point of contact keeps your brand top of mind.

6

Simplicity

Integrate mobile so users can access your program when and where they want. We’ve seen rapid changes in shoppers’ digital expectations, and this is an opportunity to take your program to the next level!

7

Insight

The data is a gold mine of information about your customers and their purchasing behaviour. Use this data to build customer profiles that can then be used to offer more tailored rewards to enhance the loyalty program, improve your product or service, and get more partners on board.

8

Evolution

Already running a loyalty program but find it’s losing momentum and/or members? It could be getting stale. Revitalize it with something as simple as new rewards or as daring as a mobile app. If you do it right, not only will your existing customers share your excitement, but you could attract a whole new group of repeat customers.